As a country with so many dog lovers and owners, there are many issues to consider when owning a dog in cities like London, whilst being responsible for your dogs enjoyment as well as others. Many dog owners may actually even be afraid and hesitant to walk their dogs in the hustle and bustle of London or other major busy cities, or even to consider relaxing in one of our amazing dog friendly pubs, because they have a dog who is perhaps so much more sensitive or even possibly a dog that can be reactive. It could be a puppy, a dog recovering from an operation, in season, shy – so many reasons to fear other passing dogs or closely interacting with another dog. These kind of fears and hesitations before a dog and their owner even step out of the front door can be so restrictive and ultimately ruin the joy a dog should bring to ours and their lives, but there is help with charities like Yellow Dog
https://www.yellowdoguk.co.uk/ . Yellow Dog is a charity that aims to try and help educate dog and non-dog owners about these special guys who really need that extra bit of care and attention and really want everyone to remember ‘Some Dogs Need Space’
UK Ambassador for the charity Yellow Dog, Alison Gibson-Stark based in South London has worked for the charity for many years and is keen for our city dogs to have as much fun as the countryside dogs. The hopes and aims of the charity are that if your dog or even you are wearing a Yellow Dog ribbon, coat, lead or such like others will respect that you need space and really not a big doggy cuddle. Hopefully this can then give you space that you need, so that you too can enjoy being out with your dog. Alison said, “It seems to us to be such a simple message: ‘Some Dogs Need Space’. If you see a dog wearing yellow, it means the dog needs space. Please don’t approach the dog, please don’t let your off-lead dog run up to the dog, please move aside or put your dog on its lead so the yellow dog can move out of your way. There are so many reasons why a dog needs space: it may have health issues, it may be a rescue dog being rehabilitated, it might be training, or it might just be shy. Or it might be a dog like mine, who just was scared of everyone and everything due to a past trauma.’
Not all dogs can or indeed should be running free off lead and as responsible dog owners everyone really does need to consider that all dogs are different, as are all owners.
Alison will be talking at the ‘Unsung Heroes’ of the Dog World with the APDAWG, All-Party Dog Advisory Welfare Group in Westminster https://apdawg.co.uk/dec-2024-meeting on Tuesday 10th December. This event will be celebrating the wonderful work that so many dog lovers are doing for both dog and human welfare.
So if you and your dog need some support when out on your walks why not take a look at Yellow Dog https://www.yellowdoguk.co.uk/ and see if they can help you both have as much fun as you possible when out walking your dog, whether in the city or countryside.